Talk:Karl May

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who was he fooling?

It is unclear to me from this article: was May trying to trick his reading audience, publishers, or anyone, into believing that he was his pseudonymous author, and writing works of non-fiction? Did he sometimes succeed? 195.195.177.104 (talk) 17:36, 1 August 2008 (UTC)RED[reply]

Deleted the sentence

"Even long after his death, May's reputation continues to suffer as a result of Adolf Hitler's professed admiration for his writing. [1]". Adolf Hitler may have liked May's books, but why would that affect the author's reputation or popularity? The given link can give no prove for it, neither can I, living in Germany, see this suggested link between Hitlers "admiration" for May's books and his reputation.

removed from the article (regarding movies): these are featured annually at the Karl May Festival in Bad Segeberg - this is highly doubtful, as the "Karl-May-Spiele" are primarily an open-air theatre event. Kosebamse 21:42, 28 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Can't remember where I found that, but if I run into it again I'll cite a source with it (it may well be a bad source too for that matter). - Hephaestos 21:46, 28 Sep 2003 (UTC) Aha. I got it from the de: version of this article. I may have translated it incorrectly. - Hephaestos 21:58, 28 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Locations of K.M. films

Plitvice lakes: I think it's in Serbia, which would be in present-day yugoslavia, but I am not sure either. --Yak 23:25, Apr 3, 2004 (UTC)

Actually, Plitvice Lakes are in Croatia, but are they the location of the filming? The article doesn't specify. --Shallot 00:47, 4 Apr 2004 (UTC)

certainly for the water-scenes, but most of the rest looks like the Karst as well. Sorry about my bad Geography!

--Yak 11:31, Apr 5, 2004 (UTC)

"Karst" is both a generic term and a name for a region in Slovenia. Plitvice are located in a karst area but are not part of the latter. It could be anywhere really, we need a more exact reference. --Shallot 15:07, 5 Apr 2004 (UTC)

I just happened to see a report on a local TV station about a German TV crew that is filming a documentary about the making of films based on Karl May's Winnetou. They were roaming the Velebit mountain in Croatia and the Zrmanja river canyon, as they wanted to see the same locations as those thirty or forty years ago. Here's IMDb data on some of those locations: Winnetou - 1. Teil, Winnetou - 2. Teil, Winnetou - 3. Teil, Winnetou und Shatterhand im Tal der Toten, Old Shatterhand... most of it is in the Dinaric Alps: Lika, inner Dalmatia, Herzegovina, Montenegro. --Shallot 17:39, 28 May 2004 (UTC)[reply]

"Best selling"?

"the best selling German writer of all time": More than Martin Luther and Karl Marx? ;-) 84.178.88.127 13:33, 5 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Karl May and the Holocaust

Removed this passage from the article as it is entirely unsourced and a little absurd in what it seems to imply:

Adolf Hitler loved May's stories about the American West, read them as a youth, and re-read and discussed them as an adult. In justifying his lack of first-hand experience, in passing judgment on others, such as the Jews, Hitler cited, as precedent, May's "authentic" depiction of the West without having been there. Colonel Mustard 04:15, 13 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Of course Karl May had nothing to do with the holocaust, but Hitler should be added among his famous "fans".

Done, with references, and references for others too, so it's not weighted towards the litle monster. Ingolfson (talk) 07:32, 20 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

too much addo bout adi85.216.89.205 (talk) 15:52, 21 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Strange autobiography sentence

The beginning of the article now says, "His autobiography is important for any serious study of his life." This is undoubtedly true, but it strikes me as a very weird thing to say in an article, if only because it's so blindingly obvious but also because the sentence doesn't seem to relate anything else in the same paragraph -- it's just a throwaway note that essentially says "if you're doing a serious study on Karl May, you need to study Karl May". I would just take it out, but I can't help wondering if I'm missing something here? -- Captain Disdain (talk) 13:56, 5 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Removal of Indonesian Karl May websites

I see no reason why Indonesian Karl May websites was removed from external links. I am adding them back again. --Agus elex 2005 (talk) 07:39, 15 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Because Wikipedia is not a link farm. Go to DMOZ if you want to list each and every welsite that is marginally connected to some topic. If May is particularly well known in Indonesia, state this with a credible source in the article. But the external links are irrelevant for May's life and works - as this article is his biography, these links not notable here. I removed them again and ask not to revert this. --h-stt !? 10:08, 15 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Karl May in Muslim Countries

"Because of their strong advocacy of peace and freedom, as well as the outspoken Christian faith of May's main characters, his works are banned or censored in most Muslim countries, including Turkey."

May's writings banned not only because of Christian sentiments, but also because they advocate peace and freedom? So all books that speak of freedom and peace are banned in Muslim countries? Then Muslim countires (which ones are these exactly?) would have to ban the bible, wouldn't they? Does the author know that many Muslim cluntires have Christian (and sometimes Jewish) minorities? As for the part about freedom and peace, well I don't think this is worth discussing. I'm not a religious person in anyway, but I find these statments offensively ridiculous. At any rate, the burden of proof lies with the author. Supprot for these claims must be provided; otherwise, I believe Wikpedia should remove them.

Nonsense removed. May's works are available in a number of editions in islamic countries. But the Book "Durchs Wilde Kurdistan" was recently conficated by Turkish customs because of the word "Kurdistan" in the title, with is deemed separatistic by the Turkish state. --h-stt !? 10:47, 30 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

List of films but no books

I find it a little inappropriate that there's a long list of films based on May's books, but not a list of the books. --Tocca (talk) 12:10, 22 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You are right. See new entry below. -- Sophophiloteros (talk) 14:19, 6 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Literature

I just started a Literature section to the article, which very strangely was missing so far, as the user above commented.

There are a whole number of problems here:

1. Some hints and titles were given within the "links" section, where they do not belong, but in a seperate literature section, which now exists.

2. The German W.P. article on K.M. is quite good, so it may serve as a guide, as far as German editions and the complicated complex issue of editions of his works (and their history) is concerned. It was not until the 1980es that a reasonably good and reliable edition started to appear - see my entry concerning the "histor.-crit. ed." This is however still work in progress.

3. English (and other) "translations" are an even greater mess: there appears to exist quite a number of those, old and newer; apparently the vast majority was altered, shortened, abriged, "made palatable" for American tastes etc. I am not able to judge any of those, which one can find in library or book sellers catalogues. Also I cannot comment on translators' abilities, even of honest and well-meaning ones, e.g. the Kara Ben Nemsi project, apparently started by a German turned US American citizen with an American wife, but no expert(s) in the field of literature, language, translation etc, if I remember correctly.

4. Concerning secondary literature: there exists a whole lot in German, of all sorts of style, topic, authors, qualities etc: Biographies, literary criticism and studies (even by scholars ), lexicon, museum exhibition catalogues, even a "Karl May cookbook" and what not. I am not really an expert on K.M. myself (and my demands for rightly calling someone an expert on ... are very high), and also I have little idea what readers here would find interesting and W.P. project managers adaequate to include. I did a quick search in National Catalogues of Germany, Britian and the USA to get an impression of what there exists in English, which seems to be very little, as far as books are concerned. Of these I have listed three titles which semed to fit. I have not done any search through scholarly data bases, which could yield more. Also I definitely have no more time to spend on this, so just this beginning and comments from my side.

I wish you good progress, regards -- Sophophiloteros (talk) 14:19, 6 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]